Our UC Must-Read selection of the week is equal parts cosmos and caste. It is a story of slavery and space. Shout out to The Washington Post for a simply stellar interactive piece that delves into the sordid history of a space shuttle launch center built in a remote corner of Brazil. The establishment of that base in 1987 displaced the descendants of formally enslaved Africans that had escaped the plantations and created autonomous communities in the Brazilian wilderness. Those displaced lost their homes and were sent to the overcrowded slums to become a part of the desperate, urban poor. Well, guess what? The Trump Administration made a deal to in 2019 to expand the launch center and displace a whole new generation of the descendants of those valiant Africans who created a haven for themselves in the Brazilian hinterlands.
Read more: UC Must-Reads: A story of slavery — and space
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